The Clow Mistress... Not!
by Aimura
Summary: [OnE ShOt] PG for *coughs* mild... super mild scenes at the end, which, btw, is only a few lines. Kinomoto Sakura finds out that she isn't the true Clow Mistress after all! What is Syaoran's reaction?! R&R please!


CardCaptor Sak-- NO! It's Card Mistress Harumi!   
  
A/N: This isn't much...my first CCS ficcy.   
Plz note that: Kisaragi Harumi is copyrighted -.= It's mine, in other words.  
  
  
A Winter's Chance  
  
'Hoe?' the boy with messy brown haired turned, only to be caught with snow in his face.   
'Hey, Syaoran-kun!' Sakura ran over. 'Where're you headed?'  
'...' the boy regarded her suspiciously. 'None of your business.'  
'...' Sakura watched as Syaoran turned away, walking in the opposite direction.  
'Sakura-chan?' Tomoyo popped up, a video cam-corder in hand. 'What happened?'  
'...' Sakura pulled her gaze from Syaoran's retreating back and turned to Tomoyo. 'Nothing, Tomoyo-chan...'  
  
------------------------------------------  
  
'Eh, Kisarag--' Syaoran was spooked. The slender, ambidextorious auburnhead stood before the fire. 'What are you doing there?'  
'...Li-san...?' she half-turned, her partially translucent eyes passing over him.   
'Get away from the fire!' he yelled, from a safe distance. 'It'll hurt you!'   
'...It won't. Leave it be,' she turned her gaze back to the fire.   
Syaoran stared, biting his lip. The bonfire stung his nostrils, assaulting his senses. Yet here was Kisaragi, looking at the fire as if it was nothing.  
'But Kisaragi-chan!' he called once again. 'The fire...'  
'!!' Harumi's near golden pupils contracted, as though she was some what shocked. She stepped in to the fire. Yes, right in to it.   
'KISARAGI-CHAN!' Syaoran was horrified. However, she walked out calmly again, as though she was walking on a normal path, instead of a fiery path.  
'What're you shouting for,' she sounded a trifle annoyed, as she let the white with brown spots cat down. It mewed and then ran off.  
'Ki-Kisaragi-ch-chan..' Syaoran stammered. 'Ho-How did yo-you...?'   
'...' Harumi frowned, rolling her eyes. In the moment of silence, only the flickering of the red tongues behind Harumi were heard.   
'Kisaragi-chan!' Syaoran bellowed. 'BEHIND YOU!'  
'?' she turned, to face a burning red figure. '"The Fiery"...?'  
Syaoran was taken aback. Kisaragi knew about the clow cards? And he thought he and Sakura were the only CardCaptors...  
'...Clow Mistress, how nice it is to see you again!' "Fiery" said, a small smile playing at the edges of her mouth. Syaoran gaped. Cards can talk?  
'...Ah, "Fiery"-san,' Harumi laughed. 'What're you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be sealed in the Clow Card?'  
'I escaped. That fool of a Mistress. She never did take care of her cards properly,' "Fiery" snarled.   
'There, there, you should not complain about Kinomoto-san, you know that, don't you?' Harumi frowned at the winged angel of fire before her.   
'She deserves it,' "Fiery" muttered darkly.   
'"Fiery"-san...?' Harumi chided.   
'You're a better Mistress than she was, anyway,' "Fiery" shrugged.   
Syaoran was completely lost now. Were they talking about Kinomoto Sakura?  
'...I'm going home. You wanna follow me, and be my card once more?' Harumi bit her lip. 'Although I'm sure Kinomoto-san will be mad at me for years...'  
'Nah! Who cares about that girl!' "Fiery" shouted. 'All I want to be is to be under your control!'  
'...I've never seen a card like you. Wanting to follow a good-for-nothing like me,' Harumi sighed.   
Syaoran stood rooted to the ground, stricken. Finally he willed himself to run up to the girl.   
'No! I won't allow it! Kisaragi-chan wasn't even a CardCaptor!' Syaoran yelled at The "Fiery". 'You're Sakura's and you should belong to only Kinomoto-san!'  
'...' the "Fiery" rolled her blazing eyes. 'Geez, you know who's the first Clow Mistress who walked the world in search of the Clow Cards, just to give it as a present to --'  
'"Fiery"-san, stoppit,' Harumi said sharply. Syaoran wondered who was the person who gave the Cards to as a present. "The Fiery" shrugged.   
'Whatever,' the "Fiery" muttered darkly.   
'If you want to come back under me...' Harumi sighed.  
'I want. I don't care. I want to be under you,' "The Fiery" wrinkled her nose at the fine-boned girl, like a child throwing tantrums.  
'NO!' Syaoran drew out a long, rectangular card and muttered a chant. "The Thunder" appeared next to Syaoran, but as soon as it appeared "The Fiery" fried it to a crisp. '...!'  
'...' Harumi made a face. 'If you do it one more time, I will not be your mistress.'  
Syaoran could only watch as Harumi took out a wand like Sakura's, only that its wings were tinted golden at its edges.   
'"The Fiery",' she called, twirling the staff. 'Return to your powers confined!'   
The fiery angel was sucked, like a whirlpool, in to a pink card with golden edges. "The Fiery" fell in to her delicate hands. She turned to Syaoran.  
'Li-san, please take this to .. Kinomoto-san,' she handed the card to him, her blood-red eyes dancing merrily. 'Quick, before she goes berserk looking for "Fiery"-san.'  
'Bu-But...' Syaoran stammered.   
'?' Harumi blinked at him.   
'...I can't do it...!' Syaoran blushed. In his mind, taking the card to Sakura is as good as going to her house which is as good as dati--  
'...Please? I don't want to face Kinomoto-san. She'll know that I'm a CardCaptor, and will think of me as a rival!' Harumi pleaded.   
'Hoe?' Syaoran stared at the shorter girl. 'But what about me?'  
'...' she looked away, in to the dying flames. 'I trust you not to tell anyone. Otherwise I'll have to extract that part of your memory from your brain.'  
'...Mou...' Syaoran stared at the pink card in her hands. 'Hey! "The Fiery"'s got an --'  
'Of course she has an expression,' Harumi glanced down at her card. "The Fiery" looked positively angry. 'Guess she heard our conversation.'  
'No. I won't take it,' he frowned. He need not see Sakura after all...Besides...there's one before him, and much cuter and prettier too. He blushed.   
'...? What's the matter?' Harumi rolled her eyes. 'It won't kill you.'  
'Yes it will,' Syaoran breathed. He looked at the girl's perfect face. 'No. I will *not* take it. Keep it. Leave it. Sakura...She'll come to understand.'  
'... Huh?' Harumi was the confused one now. 'Ah...whatever. I'll pass to her on someother day when I'm free then...'   
'...' Syaoran turned away for a moment. She looks so much like Sakura. He could not believe it. And he was feeling something for her too...not hatred, something rather sweet and ... comforting.  
'Well then, ja,' the girl turned in the opposite direction, hesitated, then walked past Syaoran, heading straight for the Penguin Slide.  
  
------------------------------------------  
  
'Ah-tchoo!' Harumi sniffed, once she got out of bed. 'Ohayo...Keero...?'  
'...Mm, CHEESECAKE!' Keero, her guardian of four years was stuffing his face with cheesecake. 'Want some?'  
'...Nah, no thanks,' Harumi made a face. The small, flying brownish mouse grinned. Harumi sighed. Keero's original form was not this cute, small flying mousie, but rather with a larger, nearly tiger-like appearance, although his wings and tail stay. 'Keero?'  
'Yah?' the mouse had aleady wolfed down one quarter of the cheesecake.  
'I guess it's probably nothing...but you know Kinomoto Sakura, the CardCaptor?' Harumi played with her toes.   
'Mm...yah?'   
'One of her cards escaped, and I re-captured it again.'  
Keero choked. 'Es--Escaped!?'  
'...Mm...' Harumi frowned.   
'That's SERIOUS! It means that the Captor isn't doing his or her job well!' Keero regarded her seriously. 'Who's that again?'  
'Sakura. Kinomoto Sakura,' Harumi repeated.   
'All---righty then...' Keero finished his slice of cake and pulled out a small laptop like machine from the usual "out of no where" and slowly, carefully typed in Sakura's name. Her data appeared.   
'Mou, that's one long profile,' Harumi wondered aloud.   
'Your's longer, Haru,' Keero mumbled. 'Her guardian...ah! That lazy mousie of hers!'  
'Who's that?' Harumi asked, curious.   
'Oh, that's Kero, her Guardian of the Clow Cards. Ya'see, he was this Guardian who let the cards escape, while he was TAKING A NAP!'   
'Nap? The cards escaped? It's nearly impossible!' Harumi exclaimed.  
'They did escape, but only because Kinomoto came in to the picture. Had she not been nosy and read out Clow Card "Rainbow"'s name, this disaster might not have happened at all!' Keero sighed. 'You were the one and only Clow Mistress intended, my child...'  
'I am?' Harumi was surprised.   
'Yes...' Keero's eyes bore a far away look. 'But let's not get in to that subject...'  
'Ok...' Harumi stood up from her bed and yawned. 'It's school again,' she observed.   
'Everyday's a schoolday,' Keero advised. 'Snap outta it and get ready. Oh, and I'm following you.'  
  
~~ At the front gate of the School ~~  
  
'Ohayo, Kisaragi-chan.'  
'Li-san. Ohayo gozaimasu,' Harumi replied, with a smile which seemed distant and aloof.   
'May I see you after school at the trellis behind the school, near the fields?' Syaoran asked, his face slowly turning bright red.   
'Sure,' Harumi said absentmindedly. 'What's the matter?'  
'Nothing serious,' he said, and ran off. Harumi wondered what was wrong with him.  
'Kisaragi-chan!'   
'Ohayo gozaimasu, Kinomoto-chan,' Harumi said.   
'Eh, what did Syaoran-kun talk to you about?' Sakura beside her, swinging her bag.  
'Nothing important,' she turned away.   
'So desu...'  
They continued up to their classes silently. Sakura was feeling the first green-ness of jealousy. What did Syaoran tell Harumi that she could not hear?  
  
~~ After School ~~   
  
'Li-san, nani deshou?' Harumi asked, confounded.   
'Who are you?' he cried.   
'I? I'm just plain Harumi. No one special,' she shrugged.   
'No you aren't that simple,' he insisted. '"The Fiery" said that --'  
'She was refering to another person,' she replied coolly.   
'Kisaragi-chan!'   
'...' she looked down at her lap. 'I have nothing else to say. If you'll allow it, please excuse me. I still have some errands to do.'   
'...Kisaragi...'   
Harumi pulled on her skates and skated off through the back gate. She skated gracefully, like a dancer on ice.   
Syaoran sighed and walked after him, dragging his feet along, trying to deal in the feelings that arose in him. He was, after all, only a Primary Six student, on the verge of the final examinations, which determines which secondary school he gets into...that is, if he is allowed to continue schooling.  
'Ya know, Haru?' Keero popped out of her pocket.   
'Hn?' Harumi skated along, enjoying the cool breeze.   
'That Sakura girl...' Keero pondered.   
'What about Kinomoto-san?'  
'She seems kinda ... relaxed. She must have known her cards' missin' now,' Keero frowned. 'Oh! And she's jea--lous~' 'Of who?'  
'You!' Keero shouted.  
'Me?' Harumi stopped and stared at the guardian. 'Small lil' me...?'  
'Of course! That brat likes you, ya' know!'   
'Brat?'  
'Li Syao Ran.'  
'Oh...he's not a brat!' Harumi defended her classmate.  
'Oh---?'  
'Yes!'  
'..Mm..' Keero sighed. 'By the way, are we there yet?'  
'Nope.'  
After 10 minutes.  
'Are we there yet?'  
'No.'  
'Are we there yet?'  
'No.'  
'Are we ther--'  
'NO we AREN'-- Yes we are,' Harumi pulled her door open.  
'MY CHEESECAKE~!' Keero flew out of her pocket and headed straight for the fridge.   
'...' Harumi sighed, locking the door behind her.   
'Oh ya, Haru!' Keero yelled from the kitchen.  
'Yes...?' Harumi called down from the stairs.   
'You were a Clow Mistress, and is still is. So bear that in mind and Capture Every Single Card You Meet, even if it's a bad one.'   
'Yes yes yes,' Harumi muttered, lying on her bed. She lay there thinking. Jealousy? Like? What did Keero mean?   
She fell in to a deep sleep. One of darkness...  
  
------------------------------------------  
  
'"The Woody"! Return to your powers confined!' Harumi yelled. The green Clow of the element of wood was confined to a card. 'Phew...'  
'Haru! There's one...very...powerful..' Keero mumbled, falling in to a deep sleep.  
'?'   
'It's gone...'  
  
---------------------The Hope---------------------  
  
'Syaoran-kun!' Sakura cried.   
'Sakura! Are you ok?' Syaoran yelled, fighting against the strong wind to get to Sakura on the other end of the arena-like scene.   
'Yes I am...but my cards...' Sakura stared at her paltry deck of cards. 'They're disappearing...'  
'?' Syaoran glanced at it. It was very thin, indeed.  
'"THE HOPE!"' a strong voice cried out, and the winds thinned for a second, as "The Hope" was distracted. 'Your time has come, once again!'  
A large shield inched its way towards Sakura and Syaoran.   
'You two all right?' Harumi panted from behind the shield.  
'Kisaragi!' Sakura was surprised and shocked.  
'Stay put. Hide here!' Harumi pushed "The Shield" to them, protecting them. '"The Fiery"! Release and Dispel!'  
"The Fiery" was released from its card, and she fought against the winds, sending streaks of flaming red in to the skies occasionally.   
'Ah...so it is the Clow Mistress, Kisaragi-sama again, is it?' "The Hope" said mockingly. 'This time it won't be as easy for you! You have less cards then before, don't you?'  
'Damnmit...' Harumi mumbled, frowning. 'Yo Keero!'  
'Yah?' Sakura's "Keero" roused.  
'Yah?' Harumi's Keero replied.  
'Is this the card you mentioned?!' Harumi yelled over the din of the battling Clow Cards.  
'Yep.'  
'She's stronger now...' Harumi gazed up at "The Hope". Nearly invisible, its powers and existence were, however, very strong. 'All right then...' She pulled out a card. It was black in colour, still with golden edges around it. '"The Dark"! Release and Dispel!'  
The whole area was filled with darkness so thick "The Hope" was suffocating. Harumi stared up at her, worried. Her form could be seen now, yet strangely shapeless.   
'What's that?' Sakura said, bewildered.   
'"The Dark"...' Harumi sighed.   
'Syao-kun...' Sakura's words seemed to rasp against the bleakness. 'I cannot...breathe...'  
'Sakura-chan! Hang on in there!' Syaoran yelled, shaking the girl.   
'"The Dark"! Release your powers! Weaken "The Hope"!' Harumi shouted. Suddenly "The Hope" seemed to be under more pain. Harumi saw her chance and started off a highly intricate battle chant and action.  
'"The Hope"! Return to your powers confined for you were once a Clow Card of Kisaragi Harumi, the Clow Mistress and still is!' Harumi called in her clear, sweet voice. 'Return to me, return to your world of Clow Cards...RETURN TO YOUR POWERS CONFINED!!!!!'  
At this point Harumi's eyes turned bright gold, as her wand kept twirling above her head, and finally the wand came down on a sealed world before her. Golden specks of Hope swirled and twirled around the head of her wand, forming in to a silvery card with golden edges.  
'...Syao-kun?'   
'Sakura-chan?' Syaoran looked down at the girl in his arms.  
'Tell me...who *is* the Clow Mistress?' Sakura's eyes seemed to fill with tears.   
'I...er...' Syaoran lost his power of speech temporarily.   
'Tell me! Li SyaoRAN!' Sakura clung at his shirt, sobbing involuntarily now.   
'Kisaragi Harumi, Rightful Mistress of the Clow Cards,' Keero flew over to Sakura. 'My mistress, Kisaragi-sama, is the Clow Mistress.'  
'Wha-?!' Sakura's tears threatened to spill.  
'She has been, and had always been the Mistress,' Keero offered. 'Where's your Guardian, Kero? I have a few words to ask him.'  
'...Keero-sama?' Kero jumped before the other guardian. 'What is it?'  
Harumi stared in awe at the beautiful card in her hand. "The Hope"... She shook her head and slipped it in to her pocket along with her other cards, after recalling "The Fiery". Then she ran over to the others.   
'First of all! What did you tell your mistress?' Keero demanded.  
'I..erm...I told her that she was meant to be the Clow Mistress to encourage her...' Kero mumbled.   
'You have broken Law 213 on Page 185 in the Book of Rules to be kept by the Guardians,' Keero frowned, making a mental note. 'What did you do while she kept you?'  
'I...gorged myself on cheesecakes...anything edible, and played computer and video games...' Kero hung his head.  
'You are not to indulge yourself in any worldly pleas--' Keero started sternly.  
'If I remember correctly, Majin-sama...' Harumi's soft and pleasing voice, with the lilt of her laughter in it came from behind the Guardian. 'You seemed to have broken *exactly* those rules too...'   
'I...erm...ah-hehehe...' Keero laughed awkwardly.   
Sakura stared wide-eyed at Harumi.   
'Are you the rightful Clow Mistress?' she whispered still clinging to Syaoran.   
'...' Harumi pretended that something had gotten in to her expressive eyes and lowered her head, rubbing her eye.  
'TELL ME!' Sakura cried out weakly.   
'We--ll...Yes, I am,' Harumi looked anywhere but at Sakura. Syaoran looked uncomfortable.   
'Syao-kun isn't surprised, so he must have known...' Sakura stared sadly at the boy holding her. 'He must have known...'Suddenly she flew out of Syaoran's arms, running away from them. From the lies. From everything. Wasn't she supposed to be the Clow Mistress, instead of Harumi? Wasn't she? Wasn't she!?  
'Sakura-!' Syaoran yelled after her, and started in her direction.  
'Leave her...' Harumi was facing the other side, in to the sunlight. Light streamed from the ruins of a couple of stone formations. In the middle of the highest one, a swirling red stone stood upright on a table-like stone. 'If you approach her now things will worsen. Let her calm down first.'  
'...' Syaoran hated to, but he admitted that she was right, and stood a little behind her.   
'I'm going up there,' Harumi raised a forefinger at the red-stone ruin. 'If you want to follow, come along.' She started for the ruins. It was a temple in the past, but had wasted away as thousands of years eroded its grande pillars and walls. She walked to the Stone, as Syaoran watched from a distance. Her graceful, elegant movements...her soft yet firm and sweet way of speaking, her kind, compassionate heart and above all, her child-like innocence, yet somehow, he felt that she was wise and mature beyond her years.   
She turned to Syaoran. 'Li-san, today I will return the cards to the Clow Master. Will you return your captured cards too?'  
'...I only have "The Thunder",' Syaoran said, fishing the green card out.   
'Will you return it to the Clow Master?' she repeated sadly.   
'...Yes.'  
'Please place it here...in one of the slots here,' Harumi said, pointing to one of the 50-odd slots, shaped exactly like Clow Cards. Hesitatingly, Syaoran slid his in to one of them, near the top. Harumi then slotted in the rest. 'I'll need your power, Li-san. Please lend me?'  
'Yes...of course,' Syaoran sighed. Why not? After this he will not have a chance to use his Clow powers again.   
'Clow Master! Behold! Kisaragi Harumi and Li Syaoran have come to return you your humble servants of the Clow. Please take them back, before they escape once again,' Harumi cried, twirling the wand again. Syaoran watched her fingers spinning the staff expertly, as a numbness blanketed his heart.   
'Clow Mistress, Kisaragi Harumi, Card Captor, Li Syaoran,' an unearthly voice echoed around the ruins. Syaoran looked around in fright.   
'Do not be afraid, it's only Clow Master!' Harumi whispered.   
'Clow Mistress -- Once again you have captured these unobedient cards, and returned them to me. Card Captor Li has also played an important, if not large part in the re-capturing of all the Clow Cards. You shall be duly rewarded...' Clow Master said to Syaoran. The Clow Master looked as if he was a normal person, But the Clow Elements all drifted around him. He had a handsome face, with golden hair and ice-blue eyes, the waves of the sea breaking in his eyes. Then he turned to Harumi, and his face softened considerately, smiling gently. 'Ah, Harumi. When will I see a second Harumi taking your place next time my Cards escape?'  
'Don't dream of it,' she grinned. 'Your Cards are not going to escape that fast, right?'  
He laughed softly. 'Perhaps, who knows? Anyway, you will be duly rewarded, as I have said.' The Clow Master waved his hand.   
Syaoran watched in amazement as his sword was imbued with the power of the lightning: Markings on the hilt of his sword in Chinese Calligraphy. He saw Harumi's wand turning better: Her wand was imbued with the power of the fire. It was scripted on the side of her long pink wand, and now the wand's head-feathers were faintly outlined with gold.   
'Domo arigato, Clow Master!' Harumi cried, tears threatening to spill. However, those were tears of happiness.   
'Do itashimashite...' the Clow Master drew the girl against his chest. Harumi was taken by surprise -- it was apparent on her face.   
'Na-nani...' Harumi blinked.  
'Be careful now...I may drop by anytime...' he whispered in to her hair, which smelled of the spring, the cherry blossoms.   
Syaoran stood aside, green with jealousy. He was absolutely seething with anger, but the Clow Master took no notice of him.   
'Clow Master!' Harumi gasped, pulling away from him. She ran behind a surprised Syaoran, using him as a shield against the Clow Master. Syaoran suddenly felt braver, and faced the Clow Master with courage. He felt like, he was supposed to protect the girl, whom he held so dear to his hear-- now *what* is he saying!?  
'Ah...' the Clow Master smiled gently, but Harumi detected a tinge of envy in his eyes. 'I must go...see you.'  
In a blink of the eye he was gone like a flash of light.   
  
----------------  
  
'Harumi!' the boy with messy brown hair ran towards the slender girl by the table in the ruins.   
'Syaoran!' Harumi laughed gaily.  
'Aren't you going to school?' Syaoran glanced at her school uniform.   
'Nah...it's too beautiful a day to be spent in school!' she smiled beignly at him.  
It had been 2 years since they sealed all the cards. That set of cards were known as the Kokomi -- Beautiful Heart -- Cards. Syaoran's face suddenly looked serious.  
'Harumi, I have something I must tell you.'  
'?'  
'I have to leave for HongKong to finish some business in my Clan...the Li Clan. Before I go, I must tell you something--' Syaoran blushed. 'I love you...'  
'...' Harumi blinked. 'You're going back to HongKong...?'  
'Yes...'  
'And you like me?'  
'...Yes...'  
'...' Harumi dug around in her bag wordlessly, then fished out a teddy bear hugging a large heart.  
'?' Syaoran hugged the bear. It smelled of the Spring, the cherry blossoms and the peonies he so loved.   
'Aishiterru!' Harumi hugged him suddenly, tears splashing out of her near translucent red eyes, surprising him. All these years he had been mesmerized by the silent, intelligent yet surprisingly dense girl, and had never expected the same reaction from her. After all, he was only a Chinese boy you can find anywhere on the street. Now, however, he knew that he was special to her, at long last.   
'...Gomen, Harumi-chan...' he pulled away, voice breaking. He cursed a little in his brain then continued. 'But I promise! I promise...I'll be back, once I'm done with the business!'   
'...Syaoran-kun!' Harumi sighed. Syaoran thought he saw the sparkle of tears on her eyelashes, brushing down ever so delicately over her wondrous eyes. 'You promised... Syaoran. Do you...?'  
'...Yes, I promise you!' He gathered her up in his arms again, kissing her forehead. Together they clung to each other, mouth touching. Syaoran wished it could stay like that, forever and ever...  
Suddenly, his watch started to ring. 'Harumi...it is time,' He put her down gently on the table's edge, and pulled a soft-toy wolf and gave it to her. 'I must go now. I'll call you when I get there.'  
Harumi merely nodded sadly. 'I'll miss you forever, Syaoran.'  
'...Me too, Harumi,' he sighed heavily, and he suddenly struck her as a man rather than the teenage-boy she saw before her. 'Me too.'  
  
  
========  
  
AuThOr'S SqUaWk~~~  
  
Well, sorry out there to all Sakura/Syaoran fans! ^__^ i thought of this suddenly...Gee this's sux.  
r&r please! 


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